Another favorite from Avatar: The Last Airbender! In 2014 9-year-old Larkin (pre-haircut!) dressed up as Katara, the water bender. I had to include a picture of the back because I was so proud of the hairstyle duplication. Guest appearance by Larkin's little brother-- pay no attention to the haunted eyes staring out of the Minecraft pig head...
Day four takes us to 2015 when 10-year-old Larkin dressed up as Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Spoiler alert: we seem to be getting closer to this year's costume as we travel back in time...
Day 3 brings us back to 2016! For those of you who are not Doctor Who fans: yes, 11-year-old Larkin wanted to be a statue for Halloween. For everyone else: don't blink! (Second image is a picture of a Doctor Who weeping angel as reference.)
Here is Larkin (age 12) in 2017, dressed as Sir Alanna the Lioness (from Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books), complete with signature gold-washed chain mail, coat of arms, amethyst drop earrings, and trusty sword Lightning.
Since costume construction has almost entirely trumped jewelry making this week, I (acting as Idle Talon's Media Office Manager-- check out the acronym, M.O.M., I'm feeling pretty clever) thought it would be fun to check out Larkin's over-the-top costumes of years past. The first installment is from 2018: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind-- a studio Ghibli fantasy animation.
Anticipation builds.
You may have noticed that your regularly scheduled jewelry posts have been suspended due to impending need of costume. This wizard nerdling does nothing the easy way! Usual programming will commence shortly.
Audrey II drops! You may recall the name for these curling vine-like beauties was inspired by the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Now in silver or copper, with faceted red glass or carnelian drops.
If you give a jeweler some almonds to milk... chances are they’ll want to rig up a whole efficient system, complete with fancy copper scroll attachment.
Larkin’s first crack at braided copper rings! We plan on wear-testing them for a while to see how the oxidized copper does up against skin.
This is a cab Larkin cut from a piece of Applegate jade our family found. It's placed in the section of the slab it came from. It's amazing to see how different the dry stone looks from the polished final product! The lighter green areas are quite translucent, the darker areas more opaque. Larkin is envisioning a wrap evoking a stormy sea for this one.
Today's copper doodles! Sometimes these are destined for the product board, sometimes they are further refined to finished products, and sometimes they're never spoken of again.
While Idle Talons has many works in stone, wire, and beads, any materials will do in a pinch! While visiting grandparents, Larkin created this sculpture from brother hair, thread, whiffle balls, and improvised wire tools.
Another day at the rock shop, another handful of gorgeous cabochons to play with! Also made an exploratory cut into a big piece of Applegate jade that has us pretty excited! The jade is pictured held by Idle Talons' beta minion, Larkin's dad. From left to right, the cabs are banded calcite, strawberry calcite, lapis lazuli, and lace agate.
The next Idle Talons market is this Friday-- the final Talent Artisans & Growers Market of the season! Come see what Larkin and the other vendors have been up to, partake in some food truck goodness, and enjoy the live music 5:30-dusk by the skate park.
The best spontaneous comment from a customer at yesterday's market was prompted by the dragon eyes: "Ooooh, those are freaky! It'd be fun to wear them to jail!"
They weren't planning on providing any more context, but their mortified friend explained that they work as a prison nurse.
Larkin went a little wild at the big Dancing Beads (our local bead shop) sale this weekend. Let the gleeful plotting and designing begin!
Cabochons from today's trip to the rock shop! Larkin has been so lucky to have people offer up stones and slabs for trade or gift. The two cabs on the left with the agatized shells are made of something known as "Turritella Agate" (see https://geology.com/gemstones/turritella/ for more info), the red and black asymmetric drop is mahogany obsidian, the three mossy blue/green ones are moss agate, and the round red and black one is jasper from Larkin’s grandparents’ place in Humboldt County.
I (Larkin's mum/Idle Talons' minion-in-chief) was sitting watching Larkin make these sweet little owl charms and learned the story of how the pattern was developed. Apparently, when Larkin was 9 or 10, there was a popular Minecraft server that hosted 5 minute speed-build challenges. At some point the challenge was to create an owl, and Larkin won the round. The build translated well into beads and a pattern was born!
The first Idle Talons silver piece is done! Larkin wrapped a purchased seraphinite cab in a gleaming argentium silver mermaid tail. Seraphinite is said to infuse the wearer with wholeness and well-being, nurturing and love. Meanwhile, it's fun finding new and exciting photography backgrounds away from our home turf.
